


A Horse Fit for a Lady

by meretricula



Series: Lady in Waiting [3]
Category: Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 19:15:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13301460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meretricula/pseuds/meretricula
Summary: An afternoon observing tilting practice with the prince leads to an unexpected gift.





	A Horse Fit for a Lady

When the trees had lost all their leaves, Imrah of Legann finally returned to Corus with the crown prince in tow. Kel, who had already heard what felt like a thousand and one stories about Roald from Neal and Seaver, was looking forward to her first glimpse of the prince she might, in another world, have trained together with. Shinkokami, who had claimed from the moment her betrothal was announced that she cared more about the queen's opinion of her than the prince's, managed to make herself nearly sick with anxiety. 

Roald himself was not what either of them expected. He was certainly handsome — as Yuki whispered irreverently, any child of King Jonathan and Queen Thayet could hardly escape good looks — but he was also incredibly quiet, nothing at all like his parents and the continual frontal assault of their charm. Haname approvingly remarked on his reserve; Yuki commented that it was only to be expected that a young man who spent eight years with only other men for company would be afraid of women. Kel thought he might be shy. 

A profusion of midwinter balls, banquets, and other engagements loomed inexorably, but some wiser head — Kel suspected the queen's — had prevailed over the social calendar, and the prince and princess were to be given some less public time to get to know one another first. Kel found herself trailing along on various outings to shops, temples, and other sites of local interest. After their first, excruciatingly polite and nearly silent trip to the city, both Shinko and Roald began inviting more friends as a conversational buffer. 

Today's outing would not take them outside the palace grounds; Shinko had suggested to Roald that she would enjoy watching the pages during their training exercises. "I don't see why I have to be here and Haname doesn't," Yuki complained, shivering. 

"Your presence brings light and beauty to all who behold you," Shinko replied dryly. "And Haname came with me to the bakers' guildhall yesterday. _Please_ speak in Common, Yuki. My husband will think we all hate him." 

"It is very cold," Yuki enunciated slowly in Common, smiling up at Roald without her eyes but with all of her teeth. The queen's ladies had all been terrible about encouraging Yuki to show her emotions more freely, but Kel thought it was the result of Neal's influence that she was witnessing now. "Do you not think so, your highness?" 

"Not unseasonably so, my lady," Roald said. He looked over at Seaver for support, which Kel had noticed was a habit of his no matter how innocuous the statement he had just made. "It is very beautiful at midwinter," he went on when neither Yuki nor Seaver ventured a reply, directing his attention more toward Shinkokami. "I think you will like the snow. I hope you will," he amended. He was so very serious about everything, even the weather, Kel thought; she had no idea how he would ever get to know Shinko if he didn't relax at least a little. But time would remedy that, she supposed. Kel couldn't imagine that anyone could spend time with the princess and not come to love her eventually. 

"I am sure I will," Shinko said, gracious as ever, but the shift in her attention as the pages they were meant to observe came into view was so abrupt that Kel worried even their oblivious Tortallan hosts would notice and take offense. "Oh, Keladry, look! You will get to see the horseback training today. Nealan of Queenscove has filled her ears with all the new ways she may acquire bruises here," she added as an aside to Roald and Seaver. 

"Neal can fill your ears with almost anything, at the slightest provocation," Seaver said lightly, and if Kel hadn't been following the direction of his gaze, she might not have noticed the way Roald's mouth curved up, just the smallest bit. Maybe he had a sense of humor after all, she thought. "Are you fond of riding, then, Lady Keladry?" 

"She likes anything to do with animals," Yuki supplied when Kel's silence dragged on too long. 

"What? Oh! Yes, I love to ride, although I confess that I have not had as much practice as your ladies here. I had a very fat pony that I inherited from my brothers before we came to the Islands, but it was not practical to keep horses at the imperial court." Kel stopped herself from babbling any further with a wrench of effort, most of her attention still caught on the last page to join the line, who was mounted on a horse that looked, even to her less than experienced eye, far too big for him to handle. "What sort of exercises will we be observing today, your highness?" 

"I believe the training master has them practicing their tilting," Roald said. "Have you met him yet? Padraig ha Minch? I suppose you will at the midwinter banquets. He's not as great a jouster as the training master when I was a page, but..." His voice trailed off into nothingness, and for once Seaver made no attempt to rescue him. He was looking down at his side, where his right hand would have been. 

"The purpose of the exercise is to hit the enemy 'soldier'?" Kel asked, pointing down at the field where the first page was trotting toward a stuffed scarecrow with his lance pointed diagonally forward in front of him. 

"Ah -- nearly -- it's to hit the target on the enemy's shield," Seaver said. "If you don't do it correctly -- " He winced as the page was dealt a crushing blow with a sandbag. 

"I see," said Kel. "A salutary encouragement to rapidly improve one's skills, I am certain." 

"No doubt," Seaver agreed. The next two pages successfully evaded the sandbag, but the third was the latecomer Kel had noticed, riding the enormous strawberry roan. Kel was too far to see exactly what he did to put the horse to a charge when the others had only trotted, but charge he did. Not only did the page fail to hit the target, his seat on the horse was so weak that the resulting blow knocked him out of the saddle. 

"Will he be all right?" Shinko asked, eyes wide. Yuki was silent, one hand clapped over her mouth in what Kel thought was not an expression of horror so much as an attempt to keep from cursing. 

"I'm sure he will," Roald said reassuringly, "only give him a moment to -- ah, see, on his feet again already." 

The relief that suffused their small group of spectators dissipated somewhat when the page then turned on his horse, shouting so loudly that some of his threats to have the animal turned into dog meat were audible despite the distance. The strawberry roan tossed his head, unmoved. "Shinko," Kel said quietly. 

The princess glanced at her and sighed; no further communication between them was necessary. "Prince Roald," she began in a loud, carrying voice, "in honor of our betrothal and the bond between our two kingdoms, may I beg a boon of you?" 

"Of course," Roald said with reflexive courtesy, and then, after Seaver kicked him in the ankle, "if it is within my power to grant." 

"That horse," Shinkokami said. "The one that just lost its rider. Would you give it to me?"

"The _horse_?" Roald asked. "It's, ah. I think it may be perhaps too large for a lady? It would be my great pleasure to choose a riding horse for you if you desire one, but _that_ horse..." 

"I do not want it for myself," Shinko assured him. "You are quite correct, it would be entirely the wrong size for me, and I will gladly ride any horse of my husband's choosing. I wish to give that horse to my dear Keladry. After all," she added, eyes twinkling, "I am certain you can see she is also large for a lady." 

"If it is your desire, it is my pleasure to fulfill it," Roald said. He still looked puzzled, but gamely turned to Seaver and asked, "Will you speak to the stablemaster about the transfer of the horse to the Conte stables? And set an appointment to select a riding mount for Princess Shinkokami." 

"Of course," Seaver murmured. He remained quiet for the rest of the afternoon, speaking only when Kel asked for an explanation of a new training exercise or Roald prompted him for confirmation, and several times when Kel glanced at him sidelong she found his gaze on her, thoughtful but not hostile. Yuki gamely took up his neglected conversational duties, bringing up new topics whenever Shinko and Roald faltered for longer than a few heartbeats; Kel, whose primary obligation was to keep Shinkokami safe from physical rather than social threats, knew she would nevertheless deserve the complaints that Yuki would level against her as soon as they were in private again. Still, for the time being, all the attention she could spare from the princess remained on the strawberry roan horse. _Her_ horse.


End file.
